David Penberthy: At a time when we are in a trade war with China … why are we bending over backwards to allow such a generous diplomatic presence?

We’re in a trade war with China so why do we let its consulate run roughshod over residents of a once normal neighbourhood, writes David Penberthy.

Joslin residents hate having the Chinese consulate in the neighbourhood with security behind a re-enforced fence keeping close watch. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

The residents of Joslin are neither NIMBYs nor rednecks. They are not upset about having China’s new consular headquarters plonked in the middle of their suburb out of some toffy-nosed, not-in-my backyard sentiment, nor out of hostility towards the Chinese people.

Joslin has been home to interesting neighbours before. For many years, the 5600sq m block that is now home to the Chinese consulate was a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre and no one had any quarrel with that being there.

The residents do, however, have some reasonable questions about the scale of the consulate, about their own privacy concerns arising from its enthusiastic use of security cameras and, in a few cases, some spectacularly unneighbourly conduct by the consulate during its construction phase.

But in a bigger geopolitical sense, they have a question which goes to the heart of the now-troubled relationship between China and Australia, and it’s this.

At a time when we are in a trade war with China – they are targeting our country and, in particular, our state through tariffs on the wine, barley and seafood industries – why are we bending over backwards to allow such a generous diplomatic presence for a regime that appears hellbent on our economic destruction?

I’ve been a journo for almost 30 years and have done countless vox pops in that time where you randomly approach people in the community to gauge their sentiments on an issue. Normally you are lucky if one in five wants to talk.

On this story, the reverse was true. I have never had a reaction like it. Across two days last week on Fourth Ave and Fifth Ave knocking on 30-odd doors and talking to some 20 residents, I found just one person who was happy to have the consulate as a neighbour. Everyone else talked at length and many were imploring me to write this story.

I had people inviting me in for coffee to show me their folders of correspondence with the local council and their local MP, people giving me their mobile numbers and the numbers of other neighbours who wanted to talk, people walking their dogs past Joslin reserve and seeing me with a photographer and coming over voluntarily to say their piece.

This was a vox pop in reverse, the public seeking out the journo to offer comment. The two worst examples of how indifferent this consulate has been to the lives of its neighbours can be found at its eastern and western boundary on Fifth Ave.

At the eastern end, a couple by the name of Sharon and John invited me into their home to inspect their backyard, which has (or, rather, had) a roughly 8m-long fence backing on to the consular property.

The first Sharon and John knew that their fence was gone was when their pet dog, Odie, was running around on the street. Labourers employed by the consulate had not only pulled down their fence, but much of their garden was ripped out, including a tree that landed in their neighbour’s swimming pool.

“We came home that day and one of the neighbours was waiting to tell us that they had found Odie running on the road,” Sharon said.

“We couldn’t work out how he got out and when we let ourselves in and went out into the yard we saw that our entire back fence had been ripped out.

“There had been no letter, no phone call, no one had popped in to say it was happening. They just tore it all down and pulled out a lot of the garden, too.”

The fence has been replaced with a 3m tall security wall installed by the consulate on their rear property with what appears to be a camera or motion sensor looking over their back garden. Sharon paid an artist to paint a mural of a garden scene on the concrete wall to make it less imposing.

At the western end lies a group of four 1960s-style homettes. One is occupied by a retired teacher, the other by a 96-year-old woman on a walking frame who was being visited by her son the day I was there.

Pro-china students yell at Hong Kong protesters outside the University of South Australia in Adelaide during demonstrations in 2019. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Their properties have a long green fence in front of them which adjoins the laneway running along the consulate between Fourth Ave and Fifth Ave. When labourers were repairing the consular wall, their equipment smashed down parts of the neighbours’ green fence, and they had to get the council to replace the entire thing.

And when the consulate was attacked by protesters last year who daubed it with the words “Free Hong Kong”, they installed security cameras right along the western boundary that aim directly at Chris’s and his elderly neighbour’s front door.

Far and away the No. 1 complaint the locals have involves the cameras, with several mums telling me they no longer use the laneway to take their kids to Joslin Park.

To say people regard this is an impertinence is an understatement. Despite that, though, the consul did give me a statement saying this:

“During the construction, our Consulate-General has strictly abided by the relevant local laws, regulations and code of construction. And the work involving the neighbours has also obtained their approval through friendly talks and consultation. We have attached great importance to the occasional complaints from neighbours about the construction noise and solved the problem in a proper and timely manner.”

The consul went on to say that one of the key roles of having such a diplomatic presence in Adelaide is “enhancing the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples”.

There are, of course, those who believe the consulate is a spying operation.

That may well be true. I have no doubt China spies on us, and that we spy on them.

One thing I would say is that if they are spying, we are certainly making it easier for them here in Australia’s defence capital, as this is quite a hefty operation if it is busy only with stamping visas.

And as for the mutual understanding bit, based on what the locals say, my respectful question to the consulate in a public relations sense would be: How do you reckon that’s working out for you?